“Books are the last bastion of analog,” says Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com. So, he’s set out to accelerate the digital revolution in how readers read, writers write and publishers publish. Although not the first on the market, the handheld Kindle e-reader ups the ante by going wireless. With the dimensions of a paperback and weighing just 10.3 ounces, it even emulates a book’s binding. Because it has a reflective surface, more like paper than a computer monitor, the screen has the clarity of a printed page, and its type can be instantly enlarged. The Kindle runs cool and quiet for up to 30 hours per battery charge.

Currently, readers can wirelessly download 190,000 titles, plus blogs, magazines and newspapers, for a low cost, tree-free. Bestsellers and new releases can be had for less than $10. Users can even venture out onto the Web for content.

Remarks Bezos, “The vision is that you should be able to get any book—not just any book in print, but any book that’s ever been in print—on this device in less than a minute.”